


An Iced Coffin

by LaEmperatrizMariana



Series: Garden of Heaven: Curse of Nine [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alchemy, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 15:59:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6015280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaEmperatrizMariana/pseuds/LaEmperatrizMariana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This AU’s version of the Delphi story arc. Instead of “red rust plague”, they’re all stuck in Delphi which was in a state of disrepair due to severe budget cuts. As expected, Pharma was doing shady business with the DJD that no one was aware of until they Lost Light members started snooping around. (Yeah, Pharma doesn’t kill patients in this.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Iced Coffin

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on Halloween 2015 on Tumblr, but I decided to reupload it here, (hence the title). It's a bit tamer than its predecessor.

It had been about 48 hours since First Aid had last seen Pharma. Pharma had left Delphi to search for food and had not returned. First Aid had wanted to go instead, since Pharma was the most malnourished out of the three and was too weak to fly. (Aerial-types have different nutritional needs than grounders. What was good for First Aid, Ambulon, and the five patients they had was not enough for Pharma. He needed more protein.) Because of this, First Aid was unable to sleep and made up his mind to search for Pharma.

As he was getting ready, Ambulon approached him, “Please be careful First Aid. We can’t afford to lose you. If it gets worse out there promise me you’ll turn back.”

“Don’t worry, I sent out a distress signal!” said First Aid, “Even if we can’t find him, at least we can get help from someone who passes nearby.”

Ambulon began to laugh, he wiped his tears and said, “I’m sorry, it’s just that we’ve been left to die. If another ship does come here by, I want out…” Ambulon looked at First Aid, “…and they better take everyone. Let me see how Max is doing, his tube-feeding is about to run out soon.” Ambulon left.

First Aid then left the facility. Right away, he was hit with a blast of cold air. Unfazed, First Aid continued his march across the frozen wilderness. The terrain was completely white and uneven. He managed to pick up Pharma’s scent and tracked it down for several kilometers until it disappeared. Fearing the worst, First Aid bent over and put his ear on the ground. There had been an avalanche not too long ago. As he began to dig, he heard a rumbling sound. Shaking, First Aid looked up and saw a pair of snowmobiles coming his way. As they came closer, he noticed they had the Autobot insignia. Relieved, First Aid stood up and waved his hands.

Riding one of the snowmobiles was Ratchet; on the other were Drift and Pipes. They stopped in front of First Aid. First Aid recognized Ratchet and said to him, “Thank Primus you’re here! We need your help. Pharma went to search for supplies like two days ago and hasn’t returned.” Agitated, First Aid then began to ramble incoherently. Ratchet held out his hand signaling First Aid to stop.

Ratchet pointed at his snowmobile and said, “Hop on.” First Aid then rode with Ratchet to Delphi. They were going so fast, First Aid wasn’t able to tell them anything. Ratchet and Drift had their own GPS and managed to find their way back to Delphi without help. Ambulon had heard them approach and ran to see the security cameras. When he realized First Aid was with them, he unlocked all the doors. First Aid hopped off the snowmobile.

“Well, here we are,” he shrugged. As he did, the rain gutter came loose and fell right next to First Aid. The loud sound it made caused First Aid to whimper. His nerves were getting the best of him.

“This is Delphi?!” asked Ratchet. He was horrified at how run-down Delphi looked. It was one of the most unsafe-looking buildings he had ever seen. (To think patients were being treated in such an awful place appalled him.)

“Severe budget cuts,” replied First Aid, “and we don’t get supplies too often either. I’ll tell the rest to you guys once we’re inside.” When they entered First Aid continued, “…it’s only Pharma and Ambulon doing maintenance. Pharma usually had to do the outdoor maintenance since it’s too dangerous for Ambulon. But he’s not been feeling well and now, we have no clue where he is.”

“Holy scrap this place is creepy! No offense,” said Pipes as he looked around.

First Aid shrugged because he agreed with Pipes. Ambulon finally came to see them and he was holding three folding chairs. He looked around and said to First Aid, “What do you know? Your signaled worked.” He looked at the others, “How is everyone? Please make yourselves comfortable.” Ambulon unfolded the chairs for Ratchet, Pipes and Drift to sit at.

“I’m okay but we haven’t found Pharma,” said Ratchet, “it’s just my gut feeling, but I feel like we should look for clues in here first. What if Pharma came back and got pinned by something here?”

Everyone agreed to look for Pharma inside. Ambulon then had to leave because he needed to prepare some food. Hungry, Pipes followed him. There were these three thick plants in the kitchen. Ambulon grabbed one and squeezed the stem which oozed out some oil. Pipes watched as Ambulon began distilling the oil. He noticed Pipes and said, “We grow our own food. I forget what these plants are called, but they produce an edible oil. Pharma says he found these inside the nearby mine which is completely dry.” Pipes continued to watch in amazement.

Meanwhile, First Aid, Ratchet and Drift had made their way towards the basement. Smiling, First Aid said, “This is where Pharma has a garden.”

First Aid opened the door and right away, the lush foliage knocked them out of the basement. It was so abundant, it seemed the basement couldn’t keep them in. To think such beautiful plants would grow in such a cold desolate environment like Messatine, was nothing short than miraculous.

“Wow…” gasped Drift, “this is beautiful.”

“This garden creeps me out,” said First Aid, “one of the medi-droids went in and never came out. I think one of the plants ate him.”

“Plants can eat bots?” asked Drift.

“I don’t know, but I just have that gut feeling, you know?” replied First Aid. He then began to tell them about what little he knew of Pharma’s secret garden.

The garden itself was Pharma’s most prized possession. He had poured his entire heart into creating this wonderful garden. The plants were acquired from some seeds he managed to get when supplies were delivered to Delphi, other plants Pharma had found around Messatine. Pharma then went out of his way to redesign the basement; including the installation of a self-sufficient irrigation system which used the water from the snow. After a rough start, the garden finally took hold and became its own mini-eco system.

When they finally walked through all the plants, they came to a strange room. First Aid then opened the room with Ambulon’s keys. Drift popped his head inside to peek and screamed. The others looked in and saw various glowing runes all over the walls, as well as strange ritualistic tools with Unicron’s emblem scratched off of them. Drift pulled out salt from his subspace and threw it around everywhere and everything while chanting.

“Drift,” whispered Ratchet, “this is not Unicron-related; this is just plain old alchemy.”

“All this witchcraft is bad,” replied Drift, “I refuse to go in there.” Drift stepped back and began to meditate quietly. First Aid and Ratchet went inside. They inspected the room more closely it looked like an alchemy lab mixed with a drug lab. There was a table that had some chalk resting on it.

“So this is where Pharma makes all the medicines,” said First Aid as he sniffed the chalk, hoping to find a clue.

“You knew about this?” asked Ratchet.

“Sort of,” said First Aid, “we’re always in need of supplies; especially the medicines that Pharma took it upon himself to make. I knew he had a lab somewhere, but I didn’t know where it was. I don’t know anything else about this Unicron worship though.”

“Like I said to Drift, alchemy isn’t Unicron worship,” replied Ratchet, “it can’t be. Pharma hates Unicron cultism with a burning passion. I know how he is. He can’t keep secrets well. Alchemy is like its own neutral occult science. I can understand why he’d resort to it, how else could he get more supplies?”

“Ratchet, is this what I think it is?” First Aid pointed at a whitish powder on a table. Ratchet looked at the powder and tested it out with a small drug testing kit he happened to be carrying. The powder tested positive for a banned substance. “Oh no!” whimpered First Aid, “this can’t be.”

There was a loud explosion, and Drift opened the door, “The garden is on fire!”

“What did you do?!” snarled Ratchet.

“I didn’t do anything, I just heard a random explo–” Drift was unable to say anything, since another explosion took place. Ratchet and First Aid ran out of the room. The fire had spread so quickly that the entire room was engulfed by smoke. Just as they managed to find the exit, the sprinklers finally came on. Apparently, the water was frozen solid and it finally thawed out. The fire was then extinguished, but not before the entire garden was completely destroyed.

Ratchet looked at First Aid. First Aid sighed, “I know, I know, there’s no way this could be an accident.” Ambulon and Pipes rushed over.

“We’re alright!” shouted Ratchet, who then turned to Drift, “Drift, help Ambulon and Pipes evacuate the patients out of this building.” Ratchet continued to explain the course of action. Little did they know, that Pharma was watching them from the rafters. As he overheard Ratchet speak, Pharma rushed over to his lab.

First Aid recognized the sound of Pharma’s thrusters. “Pharma is back,” he said to the others, “…and I think he’s heading for his office.” Before First Aid finished, Ratchet had left chasing Pharma.

Ratchet arrived at Pharma’s office and kicked the door in. He noticed Pharma holding a small orb with his left hand. “Pharma what the frag is going on?!” asked Ratchet as he saw random paperwork all over the floor.

“Don’t play dumb with me Ratchet,” hissed Pharma, “I heard you talking to them. I’ll just tell you this, my aft isn’t going to prison for trying to fund this facility on my own. Those ‘severe budget cuts’ were just an excuse to keep First Aid from freaking out and acting so rashly.”

Ratchet looked confused.

“Delphi had been de-funded two years ago,” said Pharma, “They just decided to leave us all here to die. It’s so obvious why; discrimination. Fortunately, if it could even be called that, the leader of the DJD offered me a deal. I facilitated his drug cravings and he’d get me some of the supplies I need. If not, he was going to kill us all because of that bastard, Ambulon. Hey, I even tried to offer him Ambulon so he’d go away, but he refused to take that dirty rat. I would too, but still.”

Pharma was unaware that he was being monitored by a security camera. Ambulon, First Aid, Drift and Pipes heard everything Pharma had said. First Aid was freaking out about Delphi’s de-funding.

“I can see why that doctor didn’t want First Aid to know,” sighed Pipes, as he tried to calm First Aid down, “it’s okay. Once you guys come with us, you don’t have to worry about the money.”

“It’s not that, I just feel so betrayed, why didn’t Pharma tell us?” cried First Aid, “I could’ve tried to call for help so they’d get us all out of here.”

Meanwhile, Ratchet was trying to convince Pharma to join them. But Pharma declined, “I’m not stupid like Ambulon, I know you’re just gonna throw me in jail.” Pharma then grabbed a beaker he had on his desk and slamming it against the desk, cutting up his right hand. “Ow…ow…ow…”

“What the hell are you doing?” was all Ratchet could ask as he shook his head.

“I’m about to blow you up with this orb,” said Pharma holding it up, “I carved the runes on it and that special sigil. All it needs is blood to activate it.” Pharma tried to smear his blood all over the orb but the runes and the orb became warped. “Wait up, this should work. Damn it! Why isn’t this working? Did I draw it wrong?”

Without warning, Pharma just threw the warped orb at Ratchet’s face, knocking him over. The orb bounced off of Ratchet and broke the camera, cutting off the video feed. Drift pointed at the screen’s static and mumbled something angry.

Pharma then went up a ladder. Ratchet rolled over and looked up, but couldn’t help but stare at Pharma’s aft. Pharma was struggling to climb up the ladder’s rungs because he only used his left hand. Eventually, Pharma made it up to the roof. He then tried to transform, but was too weak and fell over on the ground, further injuring his right hand. Ratchet picked up the orb, hid it in his subspace, and made his way up the ladder.

The others looked through the cameras until they finally found the one for the roof. Pharma was lying on the ground. He then smudged his bloodied hand all over the ground, trying to draw summoning circle while mumbling something. As soon as Drift realized what Pharma was doing, he ran out of the room.

“Where is he going?” First Aid asked Pipes, who just shrugged.

Ratchet saw the faint summoning circle as Pharma stood up. Without a second thought, Ratchet tackled Pharma and tried to pin him on the ground, away from the circle. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Who’s going to stop me?” said Pharma as he weakly tried to push Ratchet off.

“I will!” replied Drift in a heroic manner.

Unimpressed, Pharma muttered, “Yeah, typical hero attitude. Is this the part where you beat up someone who’s already injured?”

“Excuse me?” asked Drift.

“You don’t practice what you preach, while claiming to be religious…” sighed Pharma, “…part of our faith requires us to show kindness towards others because we are all one, once we reunite with the All-Spark. You claim to be an active follower, but then all of you Decepticons are hypocrites with violent tendencies. Get away from me with your blasphemy.”

Drift was speechless. In part, Pharma was correct and Drift had been trying his best to control his violent urges. But then Drift was angry that he got told off by someone he perceived as a Unicron cultist. The next thing they knew, Pharma flipped over his little blasters and shot Drift. Ratchet, then got off of Pharma and ran towards Drift. Before he knew it, Pharma had fled in the opposite direction and transformed into a jet. Pharma lifted off and flew a short distance. Without warning, Pharma nosedived towards the ground and crashed into the cliffs below.

Worried, Ratchet called Pipes to go look for Pharma. First Aid decided to go instead. Meanwhile, Ratchet walked with Drift back to the security camera room. “What are you doing here? I told you to go evacuate the patients!” Drift smiled, trying to act all cool, but then grimaced. Ratchet looked at Drift’s injuries and noticed it they were gleaming. Pharma had poisoned Drift. Ratchet then turned around to notice that Pharma’s summoning circle had vanished. As far as he knew, Pharma was successful. Ratchet then called for more backup, as he headed back downstairs with Drift.

First Aid found Pharma, who was injured and unresponsive, in a small smoldering crater. First Aid worked to cauterize Pharma’s injuries with his mini-flamethrower. As he did, Pharma slowly opened his eyes and made eye contact with First Aid. He mumbled something and First Aid leaned over closer to him. Pharma’s voice sounded like a call of death, it unnerved First Aid more than it should’ve. Pharma gasped into First Aid’s ear, “You ungrateful cur…” With that, Pharma slipped back out of consciousness. First Aid finished the repairs and took Pharma back to Delphi.

By the time he returned, he noticed more mechs surrounding Delphi. The Lost Light was parked nearby. Ratchet was driving an even larger snowmobile with a sidecar. He ordered First Aid to lay Pharma on the sidecar. First Aid hopped on and they drove back into the Lost Light with their sirens blaring. First Aid looked around; it was the largest ship he’s ever been on. Eventually, Ratchet pulled over at the medibay and drove right in. They moved Pharma out of the sidecar and hooked him up to an IV.

First Aid looked around and noticed the all Delphi patients lying on the beds. Drift was there too. His condition remained stable, just like the others. First Aid then focused his attention on Pharma and tried to assess his condition. Ambulon then crept over towards them and looked at Pharma.

“How come he always looks dead?” asked Ambulon.

“What?” asked First Aid.

“Pharma looks like a corpse when he’s lying down like that,” said Ambulon, “his colors get so desaturated.”

“How would you have noticed?” asked First Aid.

Drift groaned as Ratchet was trying to remove the bullets Pharma shot him with. “These bullets weren’t poisoned. They were just covered in an oil that you happen to be allergic to.”

“How would…he…know my allergies?” asked Drift.

Ratchet’s eyes widened, “He mentioned the DJD.” He looked at Drift, who tried not to look concerned. Ratchet then adjusted the flow rate of Drift’s IV, “You’re going to be fine, you just need some fluids and monitoring.”

“Ratchet?” asked Drift.

“What?” replied Ratchet, who took a seat next to Drift.

“How did you know about that alchemy?“ asked Drift.

“I learned about it in med-school,” shrugged Ratchet, “they didn’t talk about it in detail. They said that was how medics used to create experimental potions to treat the sick. Everything about it seemed iffy, so I never dabbled in it.” Drift smiled and closed his eyes, as Ratchet talked more about med-school.

With the commotion, Ambulon avoided First Aid’s question and resumed his work. As First Aid continued to access Pharma, he noticed Pharma carrying an old book inside one of his compartments. It was a thick tattered book about alchemy. “Ratchet, can you come over?” said First Aid.

Ratchet went over to First Aid, who showed him the alchemy book. Ratchet flipped through the pages. “I’ll go lock this up for safe-keeping.” Ratchet took the book and First Aid resumed caring for Pharma.

Later that evening, First Aid went to visit Pharma, who was still unconscious in bed. He pulled up a seat next to him and said, “I know you can hear me, but you should’ve told us everything. That way we’ve all have been rescued sooner and…and you wouldn’t have blown up that garden. I don’t think you knew, but I loved it there too. It was the most peaceful place to sit and write. It reminded me of a park I used to play at when I was young. As far as I know, it was like the place you said you’re from. How could you destroy something that meant so much to you? I know this for a fact, because I could see it in your eyes. You didn’t do it to brag, you did it more out of passion, rather than necessity. I don’t understand.” First Aid then covered his face, trying to hold back tears. As he did, a faint smile came across Pharma’s lips but it disappeared as he grew pale.


End file.
